Bittersweet
by Rhianona
Summary: Harry has always has always had a saving people thing. This is his gift to humanity


**_Disclaimer: _**[Insert witty comment here] Avengers and Harry Potter do not belong to me.

_Pairings: Harry Potter/Romilda Vane, Harry Potter/Natalie MacDonald, Harry Potter/Phil Coulson, Phil Coulson/Mystery Male Character_

_Now_

It is with a bitter smile that Harry releases the rune stones that will entrap him with Thanos. Even knowing a moment like this would occur does not mean he would not have liked to have more time. Time to find love. Time to find acceptance. But time has run out and he will (perhaps) make Phil proud of him. Merlin knows nothing else he has done ever has.

The runes clink loudly on the ground and the protection barrier rises. Attention turns to him and he sees the stoic face of his husband as he pushes to the front.

"Harry, what are you doing?"

Phil even manages to insert a note of concern, and whether real or not, it gives Harry the courage to do what must be done.

"You are a fool, mortal, if you think you can stop me," Thanos sneers.

"I know I am a fool," Harry says. "But you are wrong to think I cannot stop you."

Thanos smirks and crosses his arms, the very picture of arrogance. "I am the lover of Death. Who are you to think you can best me?"

"Just the Boy-Who-Lived."

_Then_

When the war ends, Harry barely has a chance to breathe before the Order gathers him to their collective bosoms. Shacklebolt and McGonagall, Mr And Mrs Weasley (who, despite the loss of Fred, put on a brave face), Andromeda Tonks and Hermione, they gather around him.

"You are a powerful figure, Mr Potter," Shacklebolt. "Witches and wizards will look to you for guidance."

"I'd rather stay out of politics, if it's all the same to you," Harry says. He is tired, with vague feelings of triumph and relief at finally defeating Voldemort.

"Oh, Harry," Hermione says and he braces himself for one of her lectures. "You may not have that choice."

"You are a symbol, Mr Potter," McGonagall states. "Much like Albus was."

The group that surrounds him are polite enough to not comment on the flinch that statement brings. Albus Dumbledore was a manipulative man, who kept far too many secrets and had far too much power. Harry does not want to become him.

"Look, the bottom line Potter, is that you will need to tread carefully. You will be watched by all of wizarding Britain, and any misstep you take, will have consequences," Shacklebolt bluntly says.

"Worse that fifth year?"

"Oh, Harry," Hermione says and grasps his hand, in comfort or solidarity or to just keep him seated, he does not know, but he will allow it anyway.

"You managed to defeat the darkest wizard in memory. A wizard decades older than you, who knew magic long forgotten. And you won with a charm taught to second years," Andromeda states, her voice gruff with grief.

And Harry looks around him and sees the devastation this war has wrought on his fellows and sighs and gives into the inevitable. He is not strong enough, not now, to hold their collective will at bay. "What do you need me to do?"

_Now_

The athamé slips easily into his hand and he deftly slices the palm of his hand. No wince betrays the movement and he smiles as the blood begins to drip to the floor.

Thanos laughs. "Do you think your puny magic skills will stop me?"

Harry ignores him and instead places his focus inward. 'Mother Magic,' he pleas, 'please come to my aid.' He doesn't know if he imagines the flash of warmth that fills him but it is enough to push him forward.

_Then_

"Marrying Romilda Vane will provide to you the social connections and legitimacy you currently lack," Andromeda announces. "I have no idea what Dumbledore was thinking in leaving you with those muggles."

Harry has a vague memory of a pretty brunette who giggled incessantly and once tried to dose him with a love potion. "Is there no one else?" he asks, though he knows Andromeda would have stated if there were.

"She is truly the best option. The Vanes are a minor but predominantly Light House and Miss Vane has the upbringing to smooth over any gaffes you may inadvertently make and that your status as a hero will not brush aside."

"If you believe so," Harry agrees and wonders when he lost control of his life.

_Now_

He can hear the confused mutters of the other guests but concentrates on the being before him. He has one shot at this, one chance to do this right. Theoretically, it should work but no one has even attempted what he is about to do in centuries. A part of him, the part that has allowed him to survive as long as he has, the part that refused to bow down to Voldemort and the Death Eaters and the Dursleys - that part doesn't want to go through with his plan.

But. Hermione was correct, all those years ago, when she claimed he has a saving people thing. He cannot - will not - let Thanos rain destruction on the Earth. Phil may have asked him to attend this party as a means of protection should Loki revert to his previous villainy but Harry has received enough hints from Seers the world 'round that he knew a sacrifice - _his sacrifice_ - was coming.

Harry once died for the wizarding world. He walked to his death at the age of seventeen and never expected to return. It's been twenty years and he knows his time is up. This time, he will die for all the world.

_Then_

He marries Romilda and they find a sort of happiness. A son is born within the year and then he marries a muggleborn girl with whom he falls in love and despite all the warnings he receives from Neville and Ron and Hermione and even Romilda (who recognizes they didn't marry for love but cares for him, just a bit, if only because of the position she has for marry him) he takes her as a second wife.

His friends are right to warn him and while Natalie births him a daughter, she is more concerned with her career in the ministry than anything else.

Divorce does not exist in the wizarding world for all that multiple marriages do so he takes custody of his daughter and raises her with his son. Natalie receives a flat near the Ministry in which to live. She never complains (at least to him) of her new circumstances.

He does not hate his daughter because of her mother, which is more than others can say.

(No child of his will ever suffer the abuse he once did.)

Kingsley introduces him to Phil and it's the first time he falls for a man. Phil is quietly competent and suave and has a cool exterior. Most importantly, he can take care of himself and doesn't look to Harry for protection.

It is a heady feeling.

He knows that Phil works for SHIELD and is even aware of what SHIELD is like. Yet, he still falls for the agent and he believes Phil falls for him as well. He is certainly attentive, taking Harry out on dates and in general giving Harry the romance he never really had.

Phil doesn't seem to mind that Harry has two wives, even if one is estranged; he doesn't appear to care that Romilda is pregnant with a second child or that Harry sometimes cancels an outing to care for his godson or children. It's not that Harry believes Phil to be perfect but he thinks he may have finally gotten that elusive happiness that he has sought all his life. They marry in June and even get to spend an entire month together without interruption before reality intrudes and Phil returns to his duties at SHIELD.

While they don't spend as much time with one another as before, Phil still makes an effort to see him, even if it's just for a few hours, once a week. It is not nearly enough but Harry loves him and is willing to take what he can get. It can't be forever, right?

It makes it all the more devastating when he overhears his husband speaking to another man, one who is clearly his lover, about how Harry doesn't really matter to him, that he is simply a job.

He doesn't stick around for long after that.

If it weren't for Luna and his position as an Unspeakable, Harry thinks he would have broken. He loves Hermione like the sister he never had, but he also can't forget that she helped push him into his current position. He doesn't know if he can ever forgive her or Andromeda or Kingsley or the Weasleys or McGonagall for what they did.

"I don't think I'm suited for relationships," he confesses to Luna.

"You're a good friend to me," she says and squeezes his hand in comfort.

It's not enough but it gives him something to hold onto. And if he seeks her out more than normal, well, that's between the two of them.

And yet, when Phil asks him to attend one of the many charity galas he attends, Harry can't help but feel a flutter of hope. He manages to obtain a bespoke suit despite the almost last minute invitation (all that money in his vaults is good for something) and he uses copious amounts of gel in his hair to get it to lay flat and, and…

It is all for nothing. Phil smiles at him in a perfunctory manner and points out Loki to him and asks him to keep an eye on the other magic user, and Harry is nearly sick with the realization that Phil has only invited him as a means of countering anything the God of Mischief and Lies may throw at the vulnerable humans.

It is then that Harry realizes he is nothing more than a tool to his husband.

_Now_

Harry has never felt so close to his magic as he does now. It is the most beautiful feeling he has ever had.

By now, even Thanos has realized that something is wrong, though he still looks supremely confident. He sneers, an ugly, dark look as he raises his hand towards Harry.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Luna, beautiful as always in that quirky way she has. He can almost see the equal parts of encouragement and confidence and yes, sadness. Because she knows what he is attempting, knows because she has studied the same fragments of texts that he has.

It is a spell of last resort. It is his gift to Phil, to Natalie and Romilda. To his children and Teddy. To the wizarding world, which has always asked too much of him and to SHIELD, which sees him as a tool and nothing more. To the rest of the world, which would suffer horribly under Thanos' attacks.

He will do this. Be the savior one more time.

He smiles.

A burst of light flares from his very being and…

He explodes. The final attack. Something no witch or wizard has used in millenia.

Thanos is gone - destroyed to the very atom.

And so is he.

_/fin_


End file.
